The safe and efficient movement of vehicles through a road system makes use of mechanisms, such as traffic lights, that regulate the flow of traffic. By periodically stopping the movement of traffic along one axis of an intersection, then alternating to stop the movement of traffic along the other axis, a traffic regulation mechanism such as a traffic signal attempts to balance traffic flows. In this way, vehicles from different directions are able to pass through intersections safely and without stopping the flow of traffic in one direction for prolonged time periods.
However, it is often the case that the flow of traffic is not evenly balanced in every direction, or that the flow of traffic is so light that the stoppage in traffic flow caused by traffic signals unnecessarily hinders the flow of traffic. As such, under certain circumstances, traffic flow may suffer due to excessive or overly rigid traffic regulation.